In praise of ... hydrogen bikes

Environmentally-friendly transport is many things but it is hardly sexy. Worthy, yes, but not pulse-racing. That will change when Intelligent Energy's ENV bike hits the roads. The world's first production motorcycle powered by a hydrogen fuel cell, the ENV (pronounced "envy", the perfect thing to go green with) has just picked up a gold award at the prestigious Industrial Design Excellence Awards (Ideas) in the US, putting the va-va-voom into green motoring.

Several things make the ENV stand out: its sleek, silver shark-like shape makes it seem straight out of a sci-fi movie, zipping along at up to 50mph (80kph). Its hydrogen-powered engine is a proton exchange membrane which creates no pollution, is virtually silent, and can run for as long as four hours or 100 miles on a full tank. But the most pleasant surprise is that the ENV is a British success story throughout, from the design by Seymourpowell to the early project spun off from Loughborough University. Intelligent Energy plans to start selling the ENV next year, targeting commercial fleet buyers at first but eventually making it available to the public for the same price as a conventional scooter, around £5,000.

There are still a few problems for potential purchasers, such as where to fill up with hydrogen. The fuel is readily available in bottles but there is only one existing filling station (in Barking). That will change, as it already has in the US where hydrogen bikes have already been joined by cars and boats.